In the poem Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind by Stephen Crane, Stephen talks about the aspects of war and the effects it has on people outside of the war. Another poem called the sonnet-ballad by Gwendolyn Brooks, talks about a woman who has just lost her lover do to the war and is asking her mother where happiness is. In both texts, the authors focus on the negative and how cruel war really is. Although the authors focus the the horrific parts of war, Brooks sees beauty in war and how tempting it is. However, Crane only focuses the dreadful and grim parts of war.
“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind” (John F. Kennedy). In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien he wrote stories about what being in Vietnam war was like. O’Brien wrote the book nonlinear because that is how he remembered the stories. Tim O’Brien let readers get a first hand look on what war is like and what it can really do to someone who was in war. Tim O’Brien used the themes shame/guilt and storytelling/memory to let people who want to understand what war is like to get a better understanding and what it does to a soldier mentally and physically.
Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.
War and the experiences encountered within it create countless stories, both heroic and horrific. A few of these war stories are shared throughout the book, The Things they Carried, by Tim O’Brien. The men involved in these war stories respond to the uncertainty, fear, and death that surrounds them in their own distinct ways. During a time of war, the soldiers in combat respond to their stimulative surroundings through their own coping mechanisms.
Deaths of War No one ever thinks about what a soldier goes through when they lose someone from their platoon during a war. The emotional and physical burden a death brings, as shown in All the Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, can bring out the guilt and fear in a young man, who was thrown into a war. The first death witnessed in Tim O’Briens platoon was Ted Lavender.
In the book The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses the title to suggest the soldiers not only carry equipment for war but the guilt that weighs them down. Through the book the soldiers and families deal with and encounter life changing decisions and events. The Things They Carry is rather obvious as they are in war and need supplies, but the author means for it to be more than the literal meaning. While at war the soldiers had to make decisions and with the outcomes came guilt, emotion, regret, shame, and anger All of the feelings are outcomes of the war and goes to show how much war can change someone.
Speaking of Life After War Veterans go through very traumatic events during war and for many, these events change their lives and perspectives. In the chapter “Speaking of Courage” from his novel The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien uses the third person point of view and the imagery of the cycle of the road around the lake to strengthen the impact and separation that veterans feel from regular life in the United States, letting the reader recognize the life-changing trauma that results from war and how it impacted many veterans, especially during the Vietnam war like the setting of most of the novel. Trauma can result from the death of a friend, dangerous and scary events, oppression, and more. Throughout the chapter, Tim O’Brien uses
Slopes of War Literary Analysis “Listen and watch the world around you. Try to understand why things happen. Don’t be satisfied with answers others give you… work to get answers on your own. Understand why you believe things.” –Avi Slopes of War, a novel by N.A. Perez, is a complex tale of war, heartbreak, and passion based on the Civil War, and more specifically, the bloody Battles of Gettysburg.
Chris Hedges, a former war correspondent, has a memory overflowing with the horrors of many battlefields and the helplessness of those trapped within them. He applies this memory to write War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, where he tutors us in the misery of war. To accomplish this goal, Hedges uses impactful imagery, appeals to other dissidents of war and classic writers, and powerful exemplification. Throughout his book, Hedges batters the readers with painful and grotesque, often first-hand, imagery from wars around the globe. He begins the book with his experience in Sarajevo, 1995.
In Richard Lovelace’s To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars, although the poem is written to say farewell to the mistress because the speaker is going to sacrifice himself and is going to war, it is playful and romantic. This poem mainly focuses on how romantic it is for someone to go fight in a war. In Alfred Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade, the one is set to be serious and respectful. The poem is about how soldiers who went into battle should be honored for their doing, and that war places soldiers under extreme stress and pressure.
Literary analysis America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,
We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight. John Lennon. Based on his own reading and reflection, Bruce Dawe constructs his attitudes towards war in his poems, Homecoming and Weapons Training, believing it to be lacking sense historically and ultimately futile. By specifically addressing an Australian cultural context, the poet exposes a universal appeal in that the insensitivity and anonymity are common attitudes towards soldiers during war. Dawe clearly expresses his ‘anti-war sentiment’ through his use of language and imagery as he examines the dehumanising aspects of war and its brutal reality.
In the poems “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen and “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” by Tony Harrison, both poems present the truths of war. However, both differ in terms of setting and contrast that help depicts the similarities between their theme. Disabled takes place within World War I as Owen vividly describes the subject’s amputation, but the poem is centered around the subject’s adjustment to civilian life after war. In The Bright Lights of Sarajevo although Harrison discusses the consequences of partaking in war in the town, he illustrates the way in which life goes on regardless the horrific impact. Through use of setting and contrast, both poets contribute to presenting the theme of the realities of war.
.Most poetry of this genre is based around the topic of World War One and World War Two. But also around other famous wars in history such as the American Civil War and Troubles in Northern Ireland. This poetry contains messages of hatred towards war and towards the idea of war. This section includes poetry of very famous poets who not only were alive during the war but some of whom also
Most people can understand that when a soldier comes back from war, he is not going to be the same. He has seen too much and done too much to still be the innocent boy he had been. In the novel, The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, he not only puts the effect of war for soldiers, but for regular civilians as well. The novel is saying that war affects females even though they could not fight in war. The message is conveyed through female characters that have felt sorrow and emptiness during and after the war.
